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Zechariah 11 Devotional

The Shepherd Priced Cheaply

“And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.”Zechariah 11:13 (BSB)

In a dark and difficult passage, the LORD tells Zechariah to shepherd a flock marked for slaughter, whose sellers praise God for their profits (11:4-5). He takes two staffs named Favor and Union and tends the afflicted of the flock, but the flock detests him (11:7-8). He breaks Favor, and when he asks for his wages they weigh out thirty pieces of silver. God calls it, with bitter irony, a magnificent price and tells him to throw it to the potter in the LORD's house (11:10-13). Then he breaks Union, and a worthless shepherd is foretold (11:14-17).

The chapter shows what happens when people reject the care God offers. Its saddest detail returns in the gospels, when Judas is paid thirty pieces of silver to hand Jesus over and the money later buys a potter's field (Matthew 26:15, 27:9-10). The true Shepherd was priced cheaply by the people he came to tend. His worth was never set by their estimate, and he is still worth more than anything offered in his place.

To think about: Judging by where your time and trust go, how much is Jesus really worth to you this week?

About Zechariah 11: The Shepherd Valued at Thirty Silver Pieces

A lament over fallen forests opens a picture of a doomed flock that the prophet shepherds with two staffs, Favor and Union. The flock rejects him and he breaks Favor; paid thirty silver pieces, he casts the money to the potter and breaks Union, and a worthless shepherd is foretold.

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